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GENTLENESS.

In most circumstances, a gentle behaviour is much more likely to procure us respect, and to enable us to attain our ends, than a harsh, or proud, or threatening demeanour. The reason is, that when we try to do anything by force with our fellow-men, we unavoidably raise a feeling of resistance in them. They do not like to be told to do a thing at their peril. Their pride rises at such a command, and they are disposed rather to refuse than to obey. If obliged to obey, they obey with reluctance, and do what is to be done as ill as possible, or in such a way as to be disagreeable to him who commands, just to revenge themselves upon him. If, on the contrary, we try gentle means, we do not offend the pride of the other party, or raise any other resisting feeling in him; and he does what we want with good-will, and therefore satisfactorily.

THE WIND, Tthe sun, and the traveLLER: A FAble.

A dispute once arose betwixt the north wind and the sun about the superiority of their power; and they agreed to try their strength upon a traveller, which should be able to get his cloak off first.

The north wind began, and blew a very cold blast, accompanied with a sharp driving shower. But this, and whatever else he could do, instead of making the man quit his cloak, obliged him to gird it about his body as close as possible. Next came the sun, who, breaking out from a thick, watery cloud, drove away the cold vapours from the sky, and darted his sultry beams upon the head of the poor weather-beaten traveller. The man, growing faint with the heat, and unable to endure it any longer, first throws off his heavy cloak, and then flies for protection to the shade of a neighbouring

ALPHONSO, KING OF SICILY AND NAPLES.

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JOSEPH HOLT AND THE CONVICTS.

The men who have been banished to New South Wales for crimes committed in Britain, are obliged to work in chains on the farms of the free settlers, receiving only their food for their work, and always punished by flogging on the back when they are idle or disorderly.

Some years ago, Mr Cox, a farmer, appointed one Joseph Holt to superintend the convicts who worked on his estate. Mr Holt, who was a man of good sense and considerable benevolence, resolved to try if he could manage the men by some better means than the fear of the lash. He therefore began to feed them a little better than formerly; he paid them for all they did beyond their stated tasks; and when any one stole from him, he called them together, and said, "There is a thief amongst you; till he is discovered, I stop all your extra allowances; it is therefore your interest to find him out: let him be found out accordingly, and punished by yourselves, for I do not wish that any man should be flogged." The convicts saw that this was just, and that Mr Holt wished to use them well. They therefore found out and punished the thief amongst themselves. By these means theft, and all other improper behaviour, ceased in this band of convicts. There was never afterwards the least use for the lash amongst them, and they were all as comfortable and happy as it was possible for men to be in such a situation.

ALPHONSO, KING OF SICILY AND NAPLES.

Alphonso was one of the most prosperous sovereigns of modern times, and chiefly through his gentle and benevolent dispositions. When only king of Aragon, he trusted entirely to the love of his subjects, amongst whom he used to walk without state and without guards. When some one suggested that he thus exposed himself to danger, he said, "A father has nothing to fear among his children"-meaning that he considered his people as a family, of which he was the father. Seeing a galley about to sink with its crew and a number of soldiers, he leapt into a shallop or little boat to

go to its relief, saying, "I would rather share than behold their calamity." He was very ready to forgive offenders. A document containing the names of certain nobles who had conspired against him being put into his hands, he instantly tore it in picces, without looking into it. It was his maxim, that while the good are secured by justice, the bad are won by clemency.

He

The kingdom of Naples, including Sicily, was left to him. by its former ruler; but he had to contend with a rival before he could establish himself in that country. In this contest his kind nature did as much as his arms. gained the important town of Gaeta entirely by an act of generosity. It was held out against him by his enemies, and starvation had reduced the inhabitants to great misery. To make their provisions last the longer, the garrison thrust out all the old people, the women, and the children. Alphonso had it in his power to drive back all these into the town, by which it must have been obliged so much the sooner to surrender. His officers recommended him to do this; but he could not bear to think of the misery which would have been the consequence. "I value the safety of so many of my fellow-creatures," said he, "more than a hundred Gactas;" and he allowed them to pass through his army. Every one exclaimed against his conduct as mad; but a little time proved that it was not only a benevolent, but a wise act, for the citizens, melted by his generosity, soon after submitted to him of their own accord.

Alphonso succeeded, in the year 1442, in establishing himself as king of Naples; from which period till his death, twenty-six years after, he was considered the most powerful and influential prince in Italy. He is distinguished in history by the name of ALPHONSO THE MAGNANIMOUS.

THE CATARACT AND THE STREAMLET.

Noble the mountain stream,

Bursting in grandeur from its vantage-ground;
Glory is in its gleam

Of brightness; thunder in its deafening sound!

THE CATARACT AND THE STREAMLET.

Mark how its foamy spray,

Tinged by the sunbeams with reflected dyes,
Mimics the bow of day,

Arching in majesty the vaulted skics!

Thence, in a summer-shower,

Steeping the rocks around. Oh! tell me where
Could majesty and power
Be clothed in forms more beautifully fair?

Yet lovelier, in my view,
The streamlet, flowing silently serene;
Traced by the brighter hue,

And livelier growth it gives-itself unseen!

It flows through flowery meads,

Gladdening the herds which on its margin browse;
Its quiet beauty feeds.

The alders that o'ershade it with their boughs.

Gently it murmurs by

The village churchyard: its low, plaintive tone
A dirge-like melody,

For worth and beauty modest as its own.

More gaily now it sweeps

By the small schoolhouse, in the sunshine bright;
And o'er the pebbles leaps,

Like happy hearts by holiday made light.

May not its course express,

In characters which they who run may read,
The charms of gentleness,

Were but its still small voice allowed to plead?

What are the trophies gained

By power, alone, with all its noise and strife,
To that meck wreath, unstained,
Won by the charities that gladden life?

Niagara's streams might fail,

And human happiness be undisturbed:
But Egypt would turn pale

Were her still Nile's o'erflowing bounty curbed!

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CONSCIENTIOUSNESS-RESPECTING THE

PROPERTY OF OTHERS.

ALMOST all people possess some things which they value, and wish to keep for their own use. A boy has his playthings and his books, and occasionally some pocket-money. A man may have a good deal of money; he may have a house, with furniture; he may have land. Whatever any one has fairly acquired, is his property, and no other person has a right to it. If one boy takes playthings or anything, else from another against his will, he commits the crime of theft; so if one man takes money or anything else belonging to another, he commits the crime of robbery. What makes it Wrong to take property that does not belong to us? It is chiefly this that one who is deprived of his property is thereby made unhappy. He has lost, perhaps, what he had fairly earned by his own labour. His labours have therefore been vain; while one who did not labour is the gainer. But it is of importance to all that no one should ever take what is not his own. Men in general work, that they may themselves be the gainers by their labours. If they find that much of what they gain is unjustly taken from them, their inclination to labour slackens; others become indifferent too; and the comfort of the world is diminished. It is therefore proper that we should respect the property of our neighbours. We should not take the least particle of itnot even a crumb of bread.

A young person may perhaps think otherwise at first. He sees something not his own within his reach, and he thinks how delightful it would be to take that thing. Let him just consider how he should like if anything of his were taken, in like manner, by another boy or girl. Would he not in that case feel himself greatly injured, and would he not think very ill of the thief? So by his taking property not his own does he injure the owner; and just so is he liable to be despised as a thief.

Besides, the taking of another's property is liable to be

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